El estudio de las atribuciones de pobreza y riqueza ha tenido un rol central en la literatura sobre la justificación de las desigualdades sociales. La investigación en esta área ha explorado en qué medida se usan razones individualistas versus estructuralistas para explicar por qué ciertas personas logran posiciones más precarias o aventajadas que el resto. En esa línea, este artículo busca dar cuenta de cómo cambian en el tiempo estas razones, en el contexto de una sociedad que ha tenido grandes transformaciones estructurales en las últimas décadas, donde además se mantiene una alta desigualdad de ingresos, como es el caso de la sociedad chilena. Tomando dos encuestas con representatividad nacional de los años 1996 y 2015, los resultados indican en un primer nivel descriptivo que han aumentado las atribuciones individualistas sobre el origen de la pobreza y la riqueza —tales como la falta de esfuerzo y la iniciativa personal— y que han bajado las razones de carácter estructural —como el desempleo o las políticas económicas—. No obstante, a través de un análisis de clases latentes (LCA), se ofrece una segunda aproximación más matizada a este fenómeno, mostrando que la baja de atribuciones estructurales se asocia al aumento de personas que atribuyen tanto razones individualistas como estructurales a la pobreza y riqueza, predominando una combinación de ambas a la hora de significar estos hechos. Estos cambios en los patrones de atribución se discuten en el marco de las transformaciones económicas y culturales de la sociedad chilena.

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que analiza la sentencia T-622/14 de la Corte Constitucional Colombiana en torno a la reasignación de sexo de niños intersexuales. El análisis se centra en el estudio de las voces involucradas y en el examen de las estrategias discursivas utilizadas para construir el concepto de intersexualidad. El estudio —cuyo enfoque metodológico es el análisis crítico del discurso y la teoría queer— permite evidenciar cómo el discurso judicial se apropia de otras instancias discursivas para definir, moldear y construir los cuerpos y las vidas que son dignas de existir en una sociedad heterocentrada. Se concluye que para la Corte Constitucional la autonomía y la capacidad de decisión personal son aspectos fundamentales en los casos en los que los sujetos intersexuales desean modificar quirúrgicamente sus cuerpos; sin embargo, en la sentencia se omiten las relaciones de poder que la matriz heterosexual produce sobre estos sujetos.

O desenvolvimento humano é um termo complexo, que envolve diferentes dimensões, entre elas saúde, educação, emprego, renda, habitação e saneamento básico, as quais são garantidas constitucionalmente no Brasil desde 1988. Diante da importância e da notoriedade acadêmica dessa temática, o presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar a influência das condições sociais no desenvolvimento humano municipal brasileiro, controlada por dimensões demográficas. Para tanto, foi realizada a técnica multivariada de análise fatorial, a partir da qual se identificou quatro fatores; posteriormente, aplicou-se uma regressão logística multinomial para todos os municípios e regiões brasileiras separadamente. Como principal resultado, destaca-se a necessidade de atenção dos municípios com menor nível de desenvolvimento para os fatores de emprego e vulnerabilidade social e saneamento básico e habitação, visto que este exerce influência na saúde pública. Além disso, as desigualdades regionais apontam para diferentes necessidades de serviços públicos. Neste caso, torna-se importante o comprometimento da gestão na elaboração de estratégias de promoção e de expansão do acesso aos serviços de saneamento básico, como forma prioritária para melhoria das condições sociais e do desenvolvimento humano.

This essay reviews the following works:

Sexual Violence during War and Peace: Gender, Power, and Post-conflict Justice in Peru. By Jelke Boesten. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Pp. ix + 231. $100.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137383440.

Feminist and Human Rights Struggles in Peru: Decolonizing Transnational Justice. By Pascha Bueno-Hansen. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 222. $28.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780252081002.

Necropolitics: Mass Graves and Exhumations in the Age of Human Rights. Edited by Francisco Ferrándiz and Antonius C. G. M. Robben. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 257. $59.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780812247206.

Reflections on Memory and Democracy. Edited by Merilee S. Grindle and Erin E. Goodman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 260. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780674088290.

Mining Memory: Reimagining Self and Nation through Narratives of Childhood in Peru. By Mary Beth Tierney-Tello. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2017. Pp. 302. $90.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781611487732.

Paper Cadavers: The Archives of Dictatorship in Guatemala. By Kirsten Weld. Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2014. Pp. xvi + 335. $28.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822356028.

Existing work on state building focuses on the creation of modern bureaucracies and institutions for education and taxation but generally neglects to point to communal property regimes as tools of statecraft. Political science scholars who focus on ethnic communal lands in the Americas emphasize the rise of formal multicultural institutions, including Indigenous land rights, but are skeptical about governments’ willingness to title large extensions of land to Indigenous or other ethnic groups because of opposing economic interests. Focusing on the titling of 12 percent of Honduras’s territory between 2012 and 2016, this article uses semi-structured elite interviews, land titling data, field notes from three months in rural and urban sites in Honduras, and drug-trafficking reports to examine the motivation of officials in the central government. Evidence suggests that the central government views and uses ethnic land titling as a strategy to reclaim territorial dominance in contested locations that lack state presence.

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have spread rapidly around the world since the 1990s. In the Americas, the proliferation of trade agreements with countries from within and beyond the region have resulted in a “spaghetti bowl” of overlapping rules and regulations, some of which address behind-the-border issues such as investment, competition, labor, and environmental standards. Earlier research has linked trade agreements to increased foreign investment inflows. This article argues instead that the effects of PTAs on FDI depend on the domestic institutional capacities of member countries. Domestic institutions condition the benefits and effectiveness of PTAs by influencing governments’ external credibility as well as their ability to implement the agreements they sign. The empirical findings show that weak state capacity exacerbates the spaghetti-bowl effects of multiple, overlapping agreements. Moreover, it is not the quantity but the quality, and more specifically, the depth of trade agreements that matters for attracting FDI.

Relations between China and Latin America date back hundreds of years and have intensified since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Recognizing that meaningful relations with Latin America require an understanding of that varied region, China has established appropriate study and research programs. This essay on current Latin American programs in the People's Republic of China will report on research organizations, research interests of Chinese scholars, and current trends within Latin American studies. The double objectives are to describe China's interest in Latin America and to establish closer contacts between Latin Americanists in China and the United States.

The objective of this essay is to suggest an interpretation of the economic behavior of women in three developing economies; this involves an evaluation of the role of the sociodemographic determinants of the female labor supply vis-à-vis the role of the variables that affect the demand for their labor. A comparative study of the female labor force in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay constitutes the basic source of empirical evidence for this paper; the purpose here is to integrate into a more general framework some of the findings of that study and infer more general propositions regarding the patterns of female employment in structurally heterogeneous economies.

Este artículo discute la relación entre el Fondo Común Municipal (FCM) y la convergencia de ingresos municipales en Chile entre 2001 y 2011. Utilizando cuasi experimentos y ecuaciones dinámicas, se demuestra que este instrumento no tiene un efecto significativo en la velocidad de convergencia. El débil desarrollo de la descentralización y los bajos incentivos de las municipalidades para obtener fuentes propias de financiamiento, podrían promover diversos comportamientos estratégicos que distorsionarían el efecto redistributivo del FCM en las municipalidades, disminuyendo su impacto en la reducción de las disparidades territoriales en Chile.

During the last decade, there has been a great debate on the social role and political function of the social sciences. This debate has brought into focus certain types of research that had not been considered valid before, each with its respective theoretical framework. As I see them, the most interesting and productive of these new perspectives for the social sciences in Latin America today are (1) modesty in research, (2) primacy of the qualitative, (3) autonomous development of theoretical models, (4) interdisciplinary research, and (5) broader acceptance of individual action and commitment as validating elements for research. None of these is strictly new: on the contrary, some of them (e.g., 5) are cyclical and have quite respectable ancestors; some have been presented by other colleagues, and myself, in many places and at many times. Nevertheless, they are worthy of repetition in view of their considerable implications for research policy and social action.